They left their families to survive the Nazis

Ruth Moos, 90, of Laguna Woods was 13 when she fled Nazi-controlled Germany in the kindertransport effort that moved mostly Jewish children from Germany, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia to foreign countries prior to the start of World War II. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The day in 1936 when 13-year-old Ruth Moos fled Nazi-controlled Germany, her parents stood on the train departure platform in Berlin, crying. But she didn't dare look at them or wave goodbye. The pain would have been unbearable.

Instead, the teenage girl steadfastly read a novel she'd brought for her journey across the Atlantic.

"I had to shut off my emotions completely," said the Laguna Woods resident, who is now 89.

That lasted for two decades. Then she began what became extensive, daily therapy sessions – and cried day and night for two years, she said.

Moos (pronounced Moss) was one of about 11,000 children whose parents made a heart-wrenching decision to send them to live with strangers in foreign lands as Adolf Hitler steadily intensified persecution of Jews in Nazi territories before World War II.

Hitler's early policy was to promote Jewish emigration from his growing empire. Most nations, however, refused to accept refugees during the Great Depression. So, caring activists in and out of the Nazi region worked to at least get some children out.

The concerted efforts to move children to safety were known as the kindertransport. A gathering of some of those children who were saved is taking place this weekend in Irvine.

With permission from the British parliament, families and orphanages in the United Kingdom took in at least 9,300 children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland in the nine months before open war broke out in September 1939. The hosts had to prove their ability to provide for the children and agree to care for them until adulthood.

About 1,400 unaccompanied kids went to the United States without explicit government approval and over a much longer period.

The British kindertransports – and the letters between parents and children – ended with the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. A transport of 251 Czechoslovakian youth left Prague on Sept. 3 but could not be completed. None of those children are believed to have survived the genocide.

By war's end in 1945, Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party had killed nearly 6 million people of Jewish ethnicity, including 1 million children. Some of those kids were used in grotesque medical experiments including sewing twins together and amputating limbs without need or anesthesia before being killed.

The vast majority of parents who sent their children away in the kindertransports did not survive the genocide, according to numerous historical accounts. Saying goodbye at the train station was the last time those children saw their parents.

Moos, whose departure in late 1936 was among the earliest, was one of the rare exceptions. She did see her parents again – 24 years later.

FEAR OF THE SWASTIKAS

Her father wasn't even sure she needed to go, Moos said. Though Jewish, he didn't think he or his family would be a target of the Nazis because he had served in the German military during World War I and had received an iron cross medal. Moos' mother, however, felt it was urgent that she leave. The day Moos left was the only time she ever saw her father cry.

Related Links

Ruth Moos, 90, of Laguna Woods was 13 when she fled Nazi-controlled Germany in the kindertransport effort that moved mostly Jewish children from Germany, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia to foreign countries prior to the start of World War II. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Ruth Moos of Laguna Woods, who was saved from the Holocaust in the 'kindertransport' effort, poses here with a collection of family photos from before World War II. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Ruth Moos, then Ruth Calmon, at 13 in 1936. PHOTO COURTESY OF RUTH MOOS
Jewish refugee children, part of a Children's Transport (Kindertransport) from Germany, soon after arriving in Harwich. Great Britain, Dec. 2, 1938. — Wide World Photo WIDE WORLD PHOTO
Refugee girl, part of a Children's Transport (Kindertransport), shortly after arrival in Harwich. Great Britain, Dec. 2, 1938. BIBLIOTHEQUE HISTORIQUE DE LA VILLE DE PARIS
Kindertransport children traveled into the arms of strangers. INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORY
Jewish refugee children, part of a Children's Transport (Kindertransport) from Germany, upon arrival in Harwich. Great Britain, Dec. 12, 1938. INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORY AND WIENER LIBRARY LIMITED
The first transport from Berlin embarks at the Hook of Holland, Dec. 1, 1938. COURTESY OF KINDERTRANSPORT ASSOCIATION.

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